‘PRISON STAFFING CRISIS’

Figures released today by the Prison Reform Trust reveal that a third of prisons in England and Wales have been experiencing a high level of staff vacancies with at least one in twenty prison officer posts vacant.

The figures, published in the latest edition of PRT’s magazine, Prison Report, show that at the end of March 45 prisons had vacancies for at least five per cent of prison officer posts. Two years ago only 20 prisons were experiencing staff shortages at this level.

Seventeen prisons had acute staff shortages with at least one in ten prison officer positions vacant.  These include the high security prison, Belmarsh, which had 52 vacancies, over ten per cent of its total staff, and young offender institutions like Onley, with almost 12 per cent of its prison officer post’s vacant.

Female prisons were experiencing particularly severe staff shortages – Holloway  had 41 posts unfilled, just over 16 per cent of its planned total number, and Cookham Wood and Bullwood Hall were suffering from a shortfall of around 18 per cent.

The other prisons with at least one in ten prison officer posts vacant include: 

Bedford, Bristol, , Downview, Erlestoke, Exeter, Feltham, Grendon, Highdown, Holloway, Lancaster, Portland, Send.

Only three of these prisons are outside of southern England. This reflects the general shortage of public sector workers in the region. Local recruitment and training by the Prison Service is beginning to make a difference but far too often prison staff  are left out of government schemes such as interest free loans or free travel designed to attract other essential public sector workers like the police and nursing staff.

Above all this staffing crisis shows that the Prison Service is under immense pressure with overcrowding at record levels - ninety of the 138 prisons in England and Wales are currently overcrowded. This means that prison officers are experiencing high levels of stress and illness.

Last year the number of days lost per officer due to sickness was 17.2. This is a dramatic rise on the previous year when 13.9 days were lost and is significantly above the Prison Service target of nine days. The number of days lost per year due to sickness for police officers and probation officers is between 11 and 12.

Speaking today the director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon, said:

“Prisons stand or fall by the people who manage and work in them. Prison staff  are key public sector workers and right now they are under intolerable pressure. Large local prisons are operating like giant transit camps with prisoners constantly on the move from one overcrowded jail to another. Severe staff shortages, appalling sickness levels, ever-changing governors and record prison numbers is more like a recipe for disaster than a way of ensuring public safety. To avert a crisis, Government must act to reduce prison overcrowding, stabilise management and find and keep good local staff.”

In the forthcoming issue of the PRT’s magazine, Prison Report, key Prison Service personnel and a high profile former prisoner, speak out about what its like managing to work in prison today (see attached articles by Phil Wheatley, director general, Mike Newell, president of the Prison Governors’ Association Colin Moses, chair of the Prison Officers’ Association and Ruth Wyner).

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The figures apply to the level of vacancies amongst prison officers in all public sector prisons as of 27 March 2003. Information on staffing levels in the private sector prisons is commercially confidential.

2. On 30  May 2003 the prison population in England and Wales stood at 72,993.  This is an increase of 2,288  in the last 12 months. In the last two years the prison population has increased by nearly 7,000 (The current maximum capacity is 75,852).  Last month the prison population reached its highest ever recorded level of 73,251 .

3. The number of prisoners in England and Wales has increased by over 25,000 in the last ten years.  In 1993, the average prison population was 44,566.  When Labour came to Government in May 1997 the prison population was 60,131.  This continued to increase, and stood at 66,105 when David Blunkett became Home Secretary on 8 June 2001.      

4. At the end of February 2003 over 17,000 prisoners were held in overcrowded accommodation. This includes prisoners doubling up, those held three to a cell designed for two and any prisoners overcrowded in dormitories and larger cells.

5. There has been a high turnover of governors in the last five years. Just under a third of all prisons (44) have had four or more governors or acting governors in charge.

6. Since 1996, over 18,500 additional prison places have been provided at a cost of more than £1.5 billion – an average of £100,000 a prison place.

7. Building new prisons has not been a solution to prison overcrowding.  In the last ten years 13 new prisons have been opened.  Of these, 9 were overcrowded at the end of May.

8. Prison has a poor record in reducing re-offending – 59 per cent of prisoners are reconvicted within 2 years of being released. The reconviction rate for male young adults (under 21) over the same period is 74 per cent.  For prisoners who are sentenced for burglary, one of the most common offences, the reconviction rate is about 75 per cent.

9. By the end of the decade Home Office projections predict a prison population of anything between 91,400 and 109,600